You really need to have two flights to begin to sample the breadth of Osprey’s Dominion’s list of wines, so…we did. I valiantly offered to drink more of each taste than my husband, the designated driver. A flight of five tastes is $12, so we did one with five whites and another of five reds, but we could go back and do another two tastings of all different wines, if you include the “Reserve Collection.”

On this pre-Christmas Saturday of frantic last-minute shopping (we did a few errands in Riverhead and were happy we did them early, as we saw the traffic quickly increasing), the expansive tasting room at Osprey’s was an oasis of calm. We had useful attention from our server, who quickly noted our likes and helped us tailor our tasting accordingly, avoiding their sweeter wines.

Gift items

Interesting way to use corks

This is called “North Fork Skyline”!

What’s nice about Osprey is it has something for everyone, from the lower priced Richmond Creek wines to the expensive Reserves, from the sweet Regina Maris Chardonnay to the minerally Sauvignon Blanc. They also carry a nice selection of wine-related gifts. The one area I would fault them on is in the snack category. After our morning of erranding I was ready for a snack, but the “cheese tray” on offer for $10 was a cellophane-wrapped very small package of a few slices of Boar’s Head salami and cheese, plus a little baggie of crackers. No thanks.

That Boar’s Head “cheese tray” was quite inadequate.

Nice sized pour

2016 Sauvignon Blanc $19

Both the aroma and the taste of this sauvignon blanc are complex and interesting, and somewhat different than the usual North Fork s.b. We sniff and get something funky, something vegetal—maybe cabbage? The taste has lots of minerality and salt, plus pink grapefruit. Good. The tasting menu says “refreshing acidity.” I would agree. My husband says it is “not shy.” Some day it might be fun to line up a bunch of different sauvignon blancs and see how they differ.

2014 Fumé Blanc $19

Well, here’s one way they can differ. This wine uses the same grape, but aged in 15% new French oak, on the lies for a while, for a somewhat smoky taste. The aroma is again a bit funky, but also smells like ripe melon. It has a richer mouth feel than the first wine and a nice long finish. Lots of good acidity. We like this one, too.

2017 Reserve Pinot Gris $24

Our server steers us to this one, instead of our original plan of just going in order on the list of whites, since we had said we did not care for sweet wines. The aroma of this one lets me trot out my new vocabulary word: petrichor. That’s the “scent of rain on dry ground,” which is also the smell you get when you walk past apartment buildings in New York in the summer after the doorman has been hosing down the sidewalk, or the smell of this wine. It tastes like tangerines and pineapple, plus again some minerality, and is another winner.

2014 Reserve Chardonnay $22

Although our server says this is the least sweet and least oaky of the oaked chardonnays, it’s not my favorite of the wines so far. 100% barrel fermented, the aroma is of something floral plus pencil shavings. My tasting buddy identifies a “theme” in the wines, which we decide is a combination of minerality and acidity. Those qualities help balance the sweetness of this chard. I could see having it with Chinese food.

2013 Gewürztraminer $19

As is typical of this grape, we get lots of floral smells, like honeysuckle, plus spice. “It smells like a garden,” says my husband. Though we prefer the gewürztraminer at One Woman, this is nice, with some gingery notes as well as fruit. A touch sweet.

Richmond Creek Red Blend $14

Now we get a fresh glass for the reds. This is a left bank Bordeaux blend of 42% cabernet sauvignon, 11% pinot noir, 26% cabernet franc, and 23% merlot. As I sniff, I’m reminded of a gift I once got of a box of chocolate covered cherries. Add to that a touch of tobacco and you have the aroma of this mellow, smooth, and very drinkable red. It tastes remarkably like those chocolate covered cherries, too. Really good for the money, and we’ve often bought it at Vintage, our local liquor store.

2013 Meritage “Flight” $30

I love this kind of juxtaposition. Here’s another Bordeaux-style blend, this time of merlot, cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc, and petit verdot. At twice the price of the Richmond Creek blend, is it worth it? Well, maybe. It is definitely better in that it is more complex, with aromas and flavors of prunes, fruit, raspberries, and tobacco, with tannins that indicate you could probably cellar it for a few years. I wouldn’t buy it for every night drinking, but maybe for a special occasion. The word “flight,” by the way, refers to the owner, who is a pilot.

2014 Carménère $30

According to the tasting notes, Osprey is the first winery on Long Island to plant the Carménère grape, another grape used in Bordeaux wines. We like this wine, too. We smell pencil shavings again, like the smell you get from a pencil sharpener, and taste purple plums and spice, perhaps nutmeg. It has “lots of taste,” we agree. I think this is another wine that could age.

2014 Malbec $30

In Cahors, we are told by the tasting notes, malbec is blended with merlot and tannat grapes, as is the case here as well. The notes also recommend serving this with a grilled steak, and I can see that. The aroma reminds me of picking blueberries and blackberries at Patty’s Berries and Bunches in August, an activity I heartily recommend for small children. I had fun doing that, too. This wine is also enjoyable, juicy and yummy.

2013 Reserve Petit Verdot $30

The server and I agree that we like petit verdot. This one is very good, with aromas of nutmeg and other spices, and a long finish. It tastes like blackberry jam with seeds, and is very tannic. If I were adding wine to my cellar for aging, I would get this one.

The tasting room is quite roomy.

This is a secondary bar.

Reasons to visit: something for everyone, with a wide variety of wines at various price points and tastes; large attractive tasting room, where they often have music and other events; most of the wines, especially the Sauvignon Blanc, the Reserve Pinot Gris, the Richmond Creek Red Blend, the Meritage “Flight,” the Carménère, the Malbec, and the Reserve Petit Verdot. However, don’t rely on them for snacks.

I recently picked up a postcard with a map of North Fork wineries which labeled them as either “petit” or “grand” wine houses. Peconic Cellar Door is definitely one of the most petit of the petit places, a sliver of a storefront with room for a couple of tables and a narrow bar with four stools. A sign on the door warns that they will not accept groups of more than six, adding, “Sorry, arriving in more than one car doesn’t count as separate groups.” I suppose what you could do is have one part of your group go to the Winemaker Studio, which is right next door, connected to Cellar Door by an open doorway.

That’s not a bad idea, actually, since both tasting rooms offer similarly intimate experiences, and the ability to taste some interesting boutique wines. Peconic Cellar Door is something different on the North Fork, as it is one of the few wineries owned and run by women (One Woman is the only other one I can think of, since Comtesse Therese closed a few years ago.). In fact, if you go on their web page and click on “Meet the Cru,” you might notice that the entire crew is female.

When we entered on a chilly Friday afternoon, we were warmly greeted by Robin Epperson-McCarthy, who remembered that we’d been there before (a year ago), and introduced us to her charming three-year-old daughter, who soon left in the arms of her baby-sitter. No one else was there, so we had a lovely time chatting with Robin and exchanging bits of wine country gossip as well as in-depth discussions of the wines.

This is literally half the room.

She and her partner, Alie Shaper, have four different labels between them: Saltbird Cellars, Brooklyn Oenology, As If, and Haywater Cove. Alie is gradually transitioning her label to almost all Haywater Cove, a reference to a place on the North Fork, though she will continue to make a couple of her most popular Brooklyn Oenology (BOE) wines. Robin explained that they don’t have a reserve label, so the As If line functions somewhat like that. And Saltbird is Robin’s label, named for the sea birds she loves.

There are twenty-five (!) wines on the menu, plus a new sparkling wine that isn’t even there yet, but they offer a “Winemaker’s Flight” of five wines for $18, highlighted on the menu in blue ink, so we decided to go with those choices. However, the first item on the menu, a keg wine called Fizzi Rosé, was not available, so Robin instead gave us a taste of the newest As If wine, Gratitude, which is also a sparkler.

The name of this wine is, among other things, an homage to Alie’s mother, who died last year.

2018 As If Gratitude $28

This is a petillant naturel, which goes through some of its fermentation in the bottle and is sealed with a bottle cap. Interestingly, it is made from gewürztraminer grapes, which I don’t recall ever seeing before, which are fermented into an orange wine before it becomes a bubbly. The color is a cloudy yellow with a slight orange tint. It has a sweetish aroma, like flowers, but also something like pickle juice. It’s a light, refreshing, sparkler, which, we agree with Robin, would go well with charcuterie.

Saltbird Chardonnay and its creator.

2017 Saltbird Chardonnay $20

I discuss with Robin my—and her—preference for steel-fermented chardonnays, and she tells how she has served this wine to people who think they don’t like chardonnay, not realizing that what they don’t like is an oaked chard. They like her Saltbird chard. I smell gooseberries and lots of minerality, plus some citrus. She explains that part of the fermentation happens “sur lies,” which means on the dead yeast or bits of grape particles, which adds some depth to the taste. It is very dry, and has plenty of mineral taste. I think it needs food, like something in a cream sauce.

2016 As If Courage Rosé $28

Alie named her wines Serendipity, Courage, Persistence, and Gratitude to chart her progression in the wine business—the way serendipity led her into winemaking as a career, the courage it took to continue, the persistence it took to stick with it, and the gratitude she feels for being able to do this. It takes no courage to drink this French-style rosé, a dry pink wine with tastes and aromas of strawberries and minerals. Like most North Fork rosés, this is a good summer wine, and would go well with a salade niçoise or some nice Catapano goat cheese.

Now that’s orange!

This is the art on the BOE label. Can’t tell what it is? Neither could we. Apparently, it’s a box.

BOE 2014 Broken Land $30

As we learned the last time we were there, broken land is a reference to the original Dutch meaning of Brooklyn. This is an orange wine, made with gewürztraminer grapes from the Finger Lakes region. It sits on the skins for ten days, Robin tells us, which gives it that lovely orange color. I wonder whether it is the color that makes me think it tastes like blood oranges, but Robin assures me that she tastes orange too, though she thinks of tangerines. The label, like all BOE wines, features a work of art by a Brooklyn artist. This one is a representation of a box.

For the red we switched to this elegant glass.

Saltbird Cellars 2016 Harbinger Red Blend $36

A blend of 80% merlot and 20% cabernet sauvignon, this has the cherry aroma and flavor we have come to expect of North Fork merlots, somewhat ameliorated by the cabernet sauvignon. It’s a light, bright red which Robin says benefits from a bit of aeration.

Reasons to visit: an intimate setting in which to taste some nice wines and chat with the winemakers; the Broken Land orange wine (we buy a bottle), the Gratitude sparkling wine; it’s right next door to the Winemaker Studio, so you can do two tasting in one stop. The tasting room is on Peconic Lane, so you could do a winery walking tour by adding on Sannino Bella Vita (which may be moving in the future), ending in the Greenport Brewing Company restaurant on the corner for lunch or a snack and a sampling of excellent brews.

As you enter Coffee Pot Cellars’ cozy tasting room, you will be greeted by Beasley, Laura Klahre’s adorable, friendly, and tiny black pug dog. The day we went, Beasley was sporting a set of monarch butterfly wings, to help promote their merlot to monarch campaign. For every bottle of merlot they sell, they will, with the cooperation of the Girl Scouts of America, plant a milkweed seed. Milkweed, though deemed a weed by most people, is crucial for the survival of the monarch butterfly, whose caterpillars will only feed on it in their early lives. So of course before we left we had to buy a couple of bottles of merlot, bringing the running tally on the blackboard to 731 bottles sold.

Beasley sporting his monarch butterfly wings.

Laura, who is also a beekeeper and lover of nature, was pleased. She and her husband Adam Suprenant own Coffee Pot Cellars, a tiny winery named for the distinctive lighthouse out near Orient Point. She also runs Blossom Meadow Farm, where she not only makes honey, but also makes various beeswax products, such as candles, and promotes the usefulness to pollination of carpenter bees. If you would like to host some carpenter bees on your property, you can buy bee houses for them from Laura. We bought a little jar of her newest product, a raspberry jam.

In addition to a line-up of very good wines, Coffee Pot has an asset in the person of Laura, who is friendly and talkative, full of stories about bees and wine and Beasley. If you happen to go there the weekend of December 8-9, you will be in time for the celebration of Beasley’s twelfth birthday, which will be marked by the release of their 2015 Beasley’s Blend—of which we had a preview. And if you have ever been there before, Laura will remember you and greet you like an old friend.

The menu features six tastes for $12, but as long as they still have the Cyser (about which more in a moment), Laura will pour you seven tastes, so you don’t have to make any decisions.

The Cyser is a sparkling hard cider made with honey, and it’s quite yummy.

Cyser $19.99

Hard cider is made with sugar, and is often too sweet for me. Mead is made with fermented honey, and can be sweet as well, but this cyser is hard cider made with Blossom Meadow honey, and the Coffee Pot version is delicious—dry and sparkling, made with the méthode champenoise, hand disgorged by Adam. Laura informed us and another couple at the bar that it was made with 50% Liberty apples, 25% Black Twig, 10% Granny Smith, and 15% Crisp Golden, all from the local Breeze Hill Farm. It tastes like a slightly apple-flavored champagne, and would be lovely with charcuterie.

2014 Sauvignon Blanc $21.99

We already miss summer, so perhaps that’s why we envisioned sipping this wine with a summery salad dinner, perhaps salade niçoise. It is fruitier than many North Fork sauvignon blancs, with an aroma of minerals and honeysuckle. Good.

Though the chardonnay is oaked, it is so lightly done so that I like it.

2014 Chardonnay $19.99

As she rinses our glass with a bit of the next taste, Laura informs us that this wine was fermented in thirteen-year-old oak barrels. I’m happy, because I don’t generally care for oaked chardonnays, but when they are fermented in old—called neutral—oak, the taste is different from a steel-fermented chard, but not buttery. There is s slight taste of the oak, but I mostly taste and smell apples and tropical fruits, with some nice acidity. It would go well with fish tacos, which I am making for dinner tonight with locally caught cod.

2014 Gewürztraminer $21.99

Although this is just called gewürztraminer, it is also 12% riesling. The aroma is quite flowery. I taste lychees and pineapple, but it is a bit too sweet for me. However, it would go well with spicy food.

If you buy a bottle of merlot, you will also be helping the monarch butterflies!

2012 Merlot $19.99

Now we get a new glass for the reds. The famous merlot-for-monarchs merlot is aged eighteen months in French oak, and we smell cherries and spice and smoke. It’s a light, dry red, a Friday-night-hamburger wine, suggests Laura. We agree, liking the hint of spiciness which balances the cherry taste.

Note the portrait of Beasley, standing guard on the lighthouse. Watch out, he might lick you to death!

2015 Beasley’s Blend $23.99

All the labels show the Coffee Pot lighthouse, but this one also shows Beasley standing guard on the upper level of the lighthouse. Though it will be officially released next weekend for Beasley’s birthday, Laura gave us a preview taste. It’s a blend of 60% cabernet franc and 40% merlot, and we can smell the cherry of the merlot when we take a whiff. We taste dark fruit—cherries, plums—and nutmeg. A soft, dry red with nice tannins, this would be drinkable on its own. Good work, Beasley!

2014 Meritage $27.99

Another blend, this one is a Bordeaux-style 56% merlot, 23% petit verdot, 14% cabernet franc, and 7% cabernet sauvignon, and it’s also really good, though given the tannins I think it would be better in a few years. It is fairly complex, with layers of flavor, including that merlot cherry flavor plus blackberries and spices, and would stand up to steak or lamb chops.

They have some little tables for two on the porch, in case you come in the summer.

Reasons to visit: Laura and Beasley; the chance to taste some lovely wines, especially the Cyser, the sauvignon blanc, the Beasley’s Blend, and the Meritage; all sorts of interesting gift items you won’t find other places, like the carpenter bee houses, beeswax candles and other products; the opportunity to support monarch butterflies by buying the merlot; and I haven’t even mention the “winasaur” they’re building from used corks on the front lawn (Laura says when it’s done she’s going to make herself a dress from corks!).

After spending an afternoon with Beasley, it seemed appropriate that on the way home we saw the solar phenomenon known as a sun dog!